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It’s one of five ideas that have won a share of the $10 million prize money stumped up by Google for its Project 10100 competition – 10100 is 1 googol – which called for “ideas to change the world”.

Those ideas came in thick and fast, with over 150,000 entries received in total. The winning five were announced last week after a public vote.

The Shweeb’s developers bagged $1 million, and will put the money towards developing a system to be used by city commuters. They claim it could carry up to 1200 people an hour. A 200-metre-long test track where the pods can reach speeds of 50 kilometres per hour is already operating as a tourist attraction in Rotorua, New Zealand.